Off the Rack
Jermaine Jenkins: What are you wearing?
By Brittany Kress
WILL SHILLING PHOTO
He hasn't always been into fashion, but Jermaine Jenkins has always stood out in a crowd.
"My cars have to be different, my house has to be different, my watch has to be different," Jenkins said. "That's just the kind of person that I am."
It started when he took an Allen Iverson jersey that everyone was wearing and replaced Iverson's number with the Nuggets' championship records.
"I didn't have the money to promote it, but it seemed like a year later, everybody in the videos was having jerseys on with different numbers and years and dates," he said. "I just laughed with my friends and said, 'It just wasn't our time yet.'"
Now the North Side resident with no formal design training wears nothing but his label, Jwork Ltd., which he and partners Andre Wilson and Darrell Hunter plan to release at the start of the summer.
It's all limited-run, featuring figures and patterns you won't see anywhere else, Jenkins said. The main character is a warrior king, inspired by Jenkins' and Wilson's experiences in the Army.
"After I got blasted with the bomb in Iraq, my vision changed on everything," said Jenkins, who received a Purple Heart. "I've been so many different places because of the military, seen different cultures and how they dress. I just took that and wrapped it into Jwork."
While Jenkins makes rounds in stores and online to keep up on what's out, he's not shopping.
"I did that for too long, put money in other people's pockets," Jenkins said.
Except when it comes to shoes. His collection of 100-plus sneakers covers all colors of the rainbow — because his outfits can't not match.
The outfit
WILL SHILLING PHOTO
Shoes: DC
Jeans: CSTAR jeans with back-pocket embroidery by Jwork
Shirt: Jwork's Artistic Intelligence line
Dog tags: "I wear them every day like it's going out of style."
Earrings: from Kay Jewelers
Watch: Joe JoJino. "It's real diamonds. We stay exclusive."
LeBron James wristband: "Mostly everybody in our crew wears them."
To share your sense of style with Off The Rack, e-mail bkress@columbusalive.com
March 6, 2008
Copyright ? 2008 Columbus Alive, Inc. All rights reserved.
